"you're going to end up sad and alone and a loner, like me..."

quiiiiiiiick things before we start

io was 9 when this happened so she obviously couldnt properly undrestand what was happening

io absolutely saw the forgotten day (fd) as a end of the world type thing. i mean if the sun and skies split into pieces and you saw eyes and wings staring back you'd think it was the end of the world too.

io's infamous clock that froze at 11:24 had a recording feature

she was also alone this whole time. she had this idea in her head she'd meet her beloved-behated sister again.

also. this is specifically about io and io alone. everything i say about everyone else, remember its ultimately about io

"I start over with a dead variable" - variable means to be changeable, not being static and stuck in an unchanging state. To Io, her home was unchangeable. but then it died, started falling apart, and even to this day its dead and whats there now is not the same. variables also have associations with math and science- something you might associate with robots. Freedom also has robot-like imagery (the character, not the virtue.)

remember, this is about Io.

"counting them made my temperature rise." - whenever i hear this phrase i think of anger. io has some anger issues. but this could also be related to sweat, the sweat that might happen when someones scared.

"with nowhere to send it to" - again, the world was collapsing around io. the walls that kept her safe fall are mostly gone. the architecture splinters and falls on its foundations. where will she send her last words?

"I write down a pitiful soliloquy." - truthfully this would probably be a bit literal. recall the clock i mentioned at bullet point three. io absolutely thinks this is stupid, but she is 9, so what can she do.

"almost like an electric shock, the fear mixes with the blood in my veins" - other than the obvious idea of io being scared and some possible imagery or blood pumping and adrenaline, electricity is related to Freedom and also to Hendrix's (second) most traumatic moment

"from beyond the thick smoke of particulates, a black sickle-chain follows me" - relating to the line right before this, smoke is probably one of the biggest metaphors for hendrix's fear, but also int he context of the entire story smoke stands for death and fear and the loss of identity. also sickles and death as a whole is a pretty big Io thing

"even if I eliminate it even if I eliminate it even if I eliminate it even if I eliminate it even if I eliminate it even if I eliminate it even if I eliminate it even if I eliminate it, it won't go away" - repetition, with my ocs at least, represents a state of panic. elimination obviously is more of a tie in with death (let me drive it home death is so important to Io's imagery). this is another way of interpreting hendrix's scary event, especially with this feeling of trying to eliminate. key word trying.

"my throat has long since been swollen, the sounds I screamed out were already a bunch of nonsense" - not too much to say here, this is a more literal interpretation of Io in the moment of the end

"above the armchair, a rotten crescent moon is laughing" - I always interpreted this line as a smile. again, this line is weird in that it's more a Freedom line and how a lot of her issues stem with being watched and judged. io can kind of see this nowadays in the present, but she's scared of acknowledging that because that would mean acknowledging she did somehting wrong. perhaps thats why the moon is rotten. or maybe its because the world is ending.

"now, something's coming something's coming something's coming something's coming something's coming something's coming something's coming something's coming to where I am" - this is another freedom line. imagine, for a moment, the idea of being watched. freedom has this fear a lot. the problem with freedom having this fear is that it tends to bleed out, so there's always this feeling of suspense. who's most likely to be a victim to this then the impressionable young Io?

this is about Io. I cannot make this clear enough.

"the people that set fire to the flag of salvation after crying in a loud voice and the skeletons that kiss their collections resign themselves in coffins" - ok back to all Io. this is probably one of the most important lyrics in importance with Io so im bolding it. the context to the FD is that the South (Io's province- think of it as a pretty large town/city) was having a revolution, due to the citizens unrest about being treated worse than the other provinces because of their perceived incompetence. io's family were big victims of this inferiority complex, and thus were frontrunners with this revolution. therefore, io saw so many people give their lives wholeheartedly, and so many diead and living lined the streets when this happened. those who resigned themselves to whatever might happen. those who tried to fight for change. everyone died. everyone suffered. there was absolutely no meaning to any of it. all of it was for nothing.

"in a whisper, they say again 'there's something wrong with me' 'there's something wrong with me' 'there's something wrong with me' 'there's something wrong with me' 'there's something wrong with me' 'there's something wrong with me' 'there's something wrong with me' 'there's something wrong with me'" - i think, while all this was happening, everyone around io was realizing that fact i pointed out above. and so, quietly of course, they say those things, all mourning the choices they think would've mattered more. the soldiers regretted not staying home with their families. the regular citizens regretted trying not to make a change. hendrix and freedom have this mindset all the time. and the biggest perpetrator of this mindset is, of course, Io.

"If only there was an eternal paradise where everyone could be saved" - another mixed line, this time for the whole trio. obviously theres some broken optimism in io wondering why this was the path that had to be taken, but there's also hendrix wondering why he lived and the rest of his family didnt. freedom is thinking something similar to Io, and i think this line has more importance to her because she feels like she of all people should have the ability to do this, but she doesn't

"all the adults, chanting that same song, burst the ark they boarded on open" - a bit more metaphorical here, but I imagine there's some pent up frustration for Io and also Hendrix here, because the two of them have darker views when it comes to optimism in comparison with Freedom

"the black stars the black stars the black stars the black stars the black stars the black stars the black stars the black stars are looking at them" - getting both literal and not, looking at Io's perspective of the event she saw many people, including people who tried to save themselves, die or go kill themselves in an attempt to go out on their own terms. in her eyes, this was the world closing in on them, taking their victims like some cruel cosmic buffet

"a howling ray of light pierces my eyes. the bells of parting toll" - more death ideas and we know Io loves those. the ray of light reminds me of the sun splitting (something that happened here) and the basically bombs that were dropping. the poor baby

"the answer born out of the history built by god tastes like sand" - this just reminds me of freedom, especially with freedom and the monarchy as a whole being almost a destructive god to the citizens of Atlanta (which the South is a major part of)

"I start over with a dead variable, counting them made my temperature rise" - same as above when these lyrics came up

"I ask a question to the stars the same color as someone's clear eyes" - I will not be saying much except that Lux, Io's sister, had very light blue eyes so "clear eyes" would be basically white. white also reminds us of the bombs. also I would like to mention white and light are angelic terms, and Io looks at this event as a concerningly angelic moment. she saw the end of the world as a more angelic thing, and its kinda scary to think about when you remember io doesnt really follow a religion and she was nine

"the sadness, threatening to overwhelm, eventually overtakes me and becomes salt" - very little to say here. Io probably would've used the first verse and chorus before this as some kind of guard before finally letting all the death and fear and sadness hit her and that probably made her start crying and panicking because she's nine

"prayers, pain, sympathy, even pity all get priced before long" - im suffering trying to do something here but maybe its a break because the lyric after this is another huge one. i'd say this is close to Lux's advice of "people really dont care and you, io, are not anything special so just take advantage of other peoples kindness"

"now, even if I turn my back even if I turn my back even if I turn my back even if I turn my back even if I turn my back even if I turn my back even if I turn my back even if I turn my back I can still hear their screams" - ALRIIIIIIIIGHT GUILT AND FREEDOM AND IO AND THIS EVENT SPECIFICALLY. Io has intense survivors guilt, and while trying to escape her house's imminent collapse she saw a lot of basically living irradiated corpses beg for saving and obviously io could not do anything she was 9. meanwhile freedom, ignoring my silence for literary sakes, freedom looks at this event as her biggest mistake, and shes haunted by its consequences even when other people seem to move on. even the South has been rebuilt and most people have (kind of not really) moved on but these two have the most guilt and memory related to this day as the only two people who saw what happened extremely personally and since io doesn't know freedom and freedom wont tell her theyre very alone in their suffering and especially guilt

"the fish that advises that there's virtue in letting go of happiness swims in the sea of my self-conscious, the smell of discharged blood is in the air" - and we immediately lost the plot. some more literalness about how apocalypse-like this whole event was and Lux's dark advice on ignoring yourself

"the black stars the black stars the black stars the black stars the black stars the black stars the black stars the black stars are looking at me" - same as the last time this lyric was used, but the difference of the black stars being pointed at Io is a way of showing how Io began resigning herself to dying. she mightve lasted longer than most but it seemed impossible to survive this event and CAN YOU BLAME HER SHES NINE. I also reminf you of the angelic theming and say this is something similar to a divine blessing to Io, at least in modern day

"I start over with a dead variable, counting them made my temperature rise. With no one to send it to, I write this pitiful soliloquy" - this is actually slightly different than the first time we use this. i think this being used again moves this from the active event to one of Io's many nightmares about the event and how the older 14 year old sees things differently, specfically in io's maladaptive coping in seeing the event as a holy moment that had to happen. and her fear, her anger, her complete and utter despair? thats pretty pitiful and sacrilegious from Io's pov. im gonna also use this to talk about the definition of soliloquy, which is similar in meaning to monologues, but due to its drama undertones i prefer it when talking about io, since this song to me is io's performance, almost, trying to show her final thoughts to a nonexistant and dead audience, especially when you remember the clock she recorded her thoughts on

"the crying cells return to the sea, their mumblings refuse to cease" - god i have like nothing to say. i'd say look at the line of 'even if i turn my back', and i also wouls say returning to the sea is possibly a euphamism for death and thats very important for io

"the ashen clouds are drawn as though following the tracks a swallow's wings once drew" - ASH ASH ASH ASH ASH ASH ASH i'd be going more crazy but ash is specifically a freedom motif but considering her role in this event this is important. the swallow and its wings is also important for freedom becuase wings are a big signifier of freedom's power, and thus were basically everywhere when the FD was happening (another reason why this is considered a 'holy' event) and drawing goes back to io because drawing is her favorite pastime and the main way she deals with and 'talks' about the event

"I beg for tomorrow with a knit together honor, my hands are sullied with hope" - GOD i love this lyric even if it has less explicit metaphors. the first part doesnt align with much but the hope line is like Io's naive feelings and her desperate attempts to make the event something good so she doesnt sink into her fear and. like. how do i describe the feeling that comes with being the one survivor of millions of deaths when you've been told your life you're the 'wrong kind of special'. when you take into account that io is still very young and she doesnt have anyone (that she knows of) that understands her and I'd say the fact she wants to live is a great complement to this line

"I ask a question to the skies the same color as your clear eyes" - same as before but with skies. there was a lot of fire and bombs so I'd say the skies were red/yellow. amber even. freedom has amber eyes. lalalalala

"after we hold hands and love one another, I'll kill the dreams I could never fulfill" - GOD THIS LINE. ultimately its not much because i think this is more of Io trying to fix the event in her memory, but like. in reality io was alone and didnt have many dreams due to lux telling her she wasnt capable of fulfilling said dreams. so this is io wanting to save herself from just how awful the FD really was for her

"as my thoughts began to cease, a thermal anomaly appeared inside my core" - death death deaaaaaaath io has a lot of death imagery. i also see thermal anomaly as perhaps love and hope and happiness. remember ios survivors guilt spawned right here and it spawned with a vengeance. so "joining" the lost and "accepting" the gifts of the divine that was destroying the world was some horrible, cursed feeling when this was such an awful event

"this can't be real this can't be real this can't be real this can't be real this is unbearable" - io's dreams again and just how unbearable having this mostly daily with io's already daily sleep schedule. she has had to live with this for 5 years. also in the moment i refuse to believe io was not whispering this to herself as she tried to escape the destruction around her

"my throat has long since been swollen, the sounds I screamed out were already a bunch of nonsense. above the armchair, a rotten crescent moon is laughing. now, something's coming something's coming something's coming something's coming something's coming something's coming something's coming something's coming and it's coming towards me". - same as the last time we used this, but I think this one lyric-moment alone is the one thing she would've said when looking at the Angel of Death/The Harbinger of the Apocalypse/The Weapon of the Crown/the Sun Splitter/Freedom and the mangled body of Lux. She gave up in this moment. I would say she really wanted to run and survive before this but after seeing Lux she completely lost any instinct she might've had. She just watched the world fall apart and thus literally saw the building Lux was in collapse on top of her. ironically, this kept her alive. but still, seeing what should've killed you and not even trying to run is a very scarring experience for a nine year old